Exhibit celebrates life, career of Chicago columnist Mike Royko

By Cierra Lemott

Last month, Chicago magazine declared in a headline that it was “the summer of Royko” in the city.

Royko is the late Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mike Royko, a legend whose image is so big that he has his own Facebook group, “Mike Royko is God.”

Over his celebrated career writing about corruption, everyday life and the curse of his Cubs, Royko wrote more than 7,500 columns for three Chicago newspapers — the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune. He won the Pulitzer in 1972 while at the Daily News, which no longer exists. 

The summer line-up includes a one-man show and an exhibition, “Chicago Style: Mike Royko and Windy City Journalism” at the Newberry Library in downtown Chicago.

All summer, a parade of Chicago journalists have visited the exhibit, sharing selfies and stories like they’re on a pilgrimage.

In 2005, Royko’s widow, Judy Royko, donated his papers and other artifacts to the Newberry.

The museum planned an exhibit in 2022 for the 25th anniversary of his death but the world was still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The free exhibit opened this summer at the Newberry. It  is translated into Spanish.

Bill Savage, professor of instruction in the English Department at Northwestern University and co-curator of this exhibit, has taught Royko in his curriculum for decades. He was asked by Sarah Alvarez and Kristin Emery of the Newberry, his fellow co-curators, to aid in curating this exhibit and gladly accepted this new role. 

“I’ve been teaching Royko in my Chicago literature classes at Northwestern for literally 25 years, so I’m very familiar with his writing and that’s obviously an important part of the exhibit,” Savage said. 

When speaking of the exhibit, Savage stated that “it’s not just the words; it’s the context in which he created.” 

Royko died in April 1997 of heart failure.

Items featured in the exhibit include Royko’s Rolodex, his tweed jacket, press passes, notebooks, an ashtray and an opened pack of Calton 100s from his desk, found after his death. It allows viewers to get a full picture of who Royko was and things that were important to him and his career. 

“What can we say about those items that tell the story about journalism and about him, as well as trying to give people a chance to engage with his writing, because that’s really what made him who he is,” said Emery, director of governance and strategic initiatives for the library.

The library has planned a public event on Aug. 29 connected to the exhibit about the 1968 Democratic National Convention. It also will be streamed on Zoom.

The takeaway that the co-curators want visitors to leave with is the importance of Royko in not only Chicago history but also the history of journalism and column writing. As a syndicated columnist, his reach went far beyond the city’s borders.

“A newspaper columnist, his work is as important and as strong in reflecting a legacy of people who have written about Chicago and helped shape the way people understand Chicago as some of the greats of literary figures that we think of as writing about Chicago like Sandra Cisneros or Richard Wright or many others,” said Alvarez, the Newberry’s director of exhibitions.

“Chicago Style: Mike Royko and Windy City Journalism” will be at the Newberry until Sept. 28.

Cierra Lemott is a Chicago-based freelance journalist.